Complications of the Human Heart
by DerangedCatGirl
Summary: Shokudo High is an average boarding school, until Chris turns the place upside down on her journey to revenge. R&R please! (my first fic)
1. A New Beginning

"Did you hear?" Tala Valkov leaned back in his chair, latching his fingers behind his head and leaning back into his chair.

"Hear what?" Only one boy out of the four deigned to answer. Johnny McGregor lifted an eyebrow, glancing at the redhead.

"The new girl." Tala grinned at the ceiling. "She's coming tomorrow."

"Trust you, Valkov." Kai muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tala protested.

"Figure it out for yourself." Bryan grunted, throwing a book languidly at the blue-eyed boy. Tala ducked, still grinning.

"Fine, fine. It's not my fault I'm a girl-magnet though."

"And you do nothing about it either." Kai said, glaring at Tala. "Get a life, Valkov."

"Get a girl Kai." Tala retaliated.

"I'd rather not." The boy replied dryly.

"Why not?" The redhead demanded.

"Because they're a waste of time and money, that's why." Kai snapped. "So just shut it _now_, Valkov."

Tala subsided into a harmless silence, seeing that his friend's temper was already beginning to fray. This new girl… the Russian's bright blue eyes glittered, dreaming about some gorgeous blonde with blue eyes and soft skin…

Outside in the gathering dusk, a girl who was most definitely not a blonde-haired, blue-eyed bimbo approached the school's main doors and entered the lobby. She went up to the reception desk and spoke to the secretary, who immediately nodded and escorted her into the Principal's office. The elderly man glanced at the girl over the rims of his round glasses, light blue eyes twinkling.

"Welcome to Furiyoku High, Chris."

Deep crimson eyes smiled into his.

"Thanks Mr Dickenson. It's good to be here at last."

"How was the journey?"

The girl rolled her eyes. "Long and boring."

Mr Dickenson laughed. "Wonderful. No doubt you'd want to rest? Your room is at the end of the school, over-looking the grounds. I thought you'd like that. And there's a cherry tree outside the window."

"Thank you."

To the casual observer, one would have thought the man's remark to be matter-of-fact, and the girl's to be casual. However, if the said observer looked closer, they would have noticed the caring smile on the principal's face and the soft, grateful gleam in the girl's crimson eyes.

Chris climbed the stairs to her room, after collecting her key from the receptionist. Slowly, she unlocked the door. It was spacious and roomy, the carpet a deep red, the walls cream. The window was open, gauzy curtains fluttering in the gentle night breeze. The girl crossed to the window, gazing out at the silent world. The sky was serene and dark, studded with a million bright stars, and a silver moon was shedding its glow down on the peaceful world - and in particular, on a certain cherry blossom tree, pink petals floating in the air. The girl smiled. Sakura. It was the name of her mother. She had always harboured a particular love for the flower, especially since…

The girl sighed and closed the window. It was late. She needed her strength for this new beginning.


	2. In Debt

To lilshadowangel: thanks for your review! Of course I'll keep going…!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any Beyblade characters (much as I'd like to) but I do own Chris Mikasuke, so NO ONE take her without my permission!

CHAPTER 2

Chris wandered leisurely along the corridor, glancing at the numbers above the classroom doors. 45…46…47…48. She stopped in front of the wooden door, glanced at her watch, and waited. Stifling a yawn, she heard the teacher calming the class down inside.

"Class, as you know, today we have a new student."

There was a murmur of assent. Tala sat at the very edge of his seat, looking around.

"Where is she?" he hissed.

"Shut up, Valkov." Bryan muttered, shooting the redhead a glare.

"Please try and be friendly, as it's her first time here, obviously." Mrs Kindle crossed the classroom and opened the door, beckoning someone inside. The class fell silent, surveying the newcomer.

"She's not half bad…" Tala whispered in approval to Kai. Kai rolled his eyes and snorted, but looked up all the same.

She was small; even from the back of the class he could see that. Not too small, about a head and a bit shorter than him. She had tanned skin and midnight blue hair that was currently falling long and loose over her back. Kai ignored her slight, athletic frame for the moment and concentrated on her face. It interested him. It was delicately shaped and nicely coloured, but the expression on it was defiant, curious, amused and bored all at the same time. He smiled slightly to himself. It was the face of a beyblader.

"Well, I'm sure you'll all welcome Chris here," Mrs Kindle said, laying a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Is there a spare seat next to anyone?"

Several boys' hands had risen hopefully in the air, but someone else beat them to it.

"Here, Mrs Kindle!"

Kai made a mental note to kill Tala again after registration. Trust _him_ to secure the only seat free.

"Very well, thank you Tala." Mrs Kindle beamed at the innocent-looking redhead. "Chris, if you'd like to take a seat next to Tala."

The girl nodded and walked down the aisle. She sat down in the seat and from then on proceeded to bluntly snub the redhead sitting next to her.

"Hey, I'm Tala." He said, treating her to his best smile. Chris looked at him.

"I guessed." She replied dryly.

Tala blinked. Obviously there _were_ girls oblivious to his charm.

"Do you blade?" he asked, switching the subject. Kai listened in. Finally that doofus had the brain cells to ask an interesting question.

"Of course." At last, a smile appeared on her face. "Best in my hometown."

"Really?" another voice drifted into their conversation. "I'll have to check that out sometime."

Even Kai's head turned. A ginger-haired boy was standing just in front of Chris's desk, smiling coolly. His bright blue eyes, not unlike Tala's, were fixed interestedly on Chris's face.

"Get lost, Brooklyn." Tala snapped, glaring at him.

"Now, now, cousin," Brooklyn smirked. "I was only saying hello to your pretty friend over here."

Chris stole a glance around the class. There was a particular group of girls by the window, wearing short skirts and make-up, who were all glaring at her. She frowned slightly. Who did she hate more, the class bimbo or that playboy in front of her? Unable to decide, Chris decided to get rid of the immediate annoyance.

"Whatever." She cut Brooklyn off. "Now go away." The boy was still smiling, but only Kai and Tala could see the angry glint in his aqua eyes.

"Careful where you step, Mikasuke." He said, deceptively calm.

"Ditto." She snapped. She tilted her chin up, staring at him squarely in the eyes. "Don't mess with me, Kingston."

"I seem to recall saying something along those lines to you." He said coolly. "Last year, in a certain tournament…" his smirk widened. "And look what happened." He brushed a finger swiftly down the side of the girl's neck.

Chris flinched, but caught Brooklyn's wrist as he pulled it back, twisting it forcefully. She stood up.

"Don't – touch – me." She snarled, crimson eyes blazing with fury. Brooklyn's jaw went rigid, but other than that, he gave no other indication that it hurt. They stood, eye-to-eye for a while longer, until suddenly, the bell rang for the beginning of school. Reluctantly, Chris let go.

"You'll pay for that one, Kingston." She said, smiling humourlessly. "You will pay." Brooklyn stalked off. A silence fell upon Kai, Tala and Chris as they walked out of the door.

"You're going to have to be careful." Tala said at last, as they headed to their next lesson.

"About what?" she said abruptly.

"My…cousin." He replied, a disgusted edge to his voice.

"I'm not worried." She smiled wryly. She turned her head to speak to Tala, and as she did so, Kai took his chance to see why Brooklyn had touched her neck.

Her dark blue hair swept back a little, and revealed a long, diagonal scar that started below her ear and disappeared underneath her collar. Chris caught him staring.

"I owe him one." She said, a little stiffly. Her crimson eyes hardened, and she didn't say anymore; and neither did Kai push her to. He understood.

**Wasn't that long, was it? Come on people, R&R! It's getting more interesting as the chapters go on – I don't have the knack of writing brilliant beginnings. I promise you, FLUFFINESS IS COMING. Hey, I'm a Deranged Cat Girl. Who knows what else is coming! **


	3. Paying Little by Little

**Shiyu-Inuyasha: thank you! 3rd chapter should be up soon, thanks for taking the time to review!**

**Chineseblossom: hehe, I followed your advice. I really do 'suck at summaries' like everyone tends to say… thank you very much though, I hope you'll keep reading!**

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At the end of the day, Chris thanked Tala and Kai for their help, and made her way back to her room. In the boys' dorm, Tala grinned, sitting down on the edge of his desk. 

"She's falling for me already." He chuckled.

"If you call 'falling for you' throwing you when you tried to touch her, then yeah, I agree." Kai replied dryly.

"Shut up." Tala muttered darkly.

"Just because a _girl_ made a fool of you in public." Kai said, a hint of a smile playing about his lips. At that moment, Bryan came in. He hadn't seen Chris, as he was in the year above the two boys.

"What's this?" he asked as he came in. "A girl?"

"New girl Chris." Kai supplied, shooting a smirk in the silent Tala's direction. "Threw Tala because he was checking her out."

Bryan let out a low whistle, and his stony face broke into an extremely rare grin.

"It had to happen sometime, Valkov."

Tala refused to talk to the both of them for the rest of the evening.

Chris made her way up the stair case, her thoughts lost in the day's happenings.

_Tala._ She shook her head. _That redhead isn't bad, but he's a fool sometimes. I can't believe he was the one involved in that Russian experiment with robotics. He's certainly making up for life now… and as for Kai, I can't figure out if he's-_

Suddenly, the world tilted as her feet slid out from under her. Biting back the shout of surprise, the bluenette threw herself back onto her hands and flipped over onto her feet, staring at the floor. Barely visible against the dark wood was a pool of slick vegetable oil. Growling under her breath, Chris muttered,

"Kingston."

And stormed into her room.

The next day at lunch break, Brooklyn sat at a table with a laptop and an extremely fidgety brown-haired boy, surrounded by a group of others.

"Well?" he growled.

"It didn't work, Brooklyn, sir." The boy stuttered out, swivelling the laptop around. With blazing eyes, Brooklyn watched Chris's spectacular evasion of the oil pool.

"Are you sure this thing's working!" he hissed, glaring at the boy.

"O-of course!" Kenny cried. "I hooked Dizzy up to the computer mainframe, and we've got the direct feed from the camera on Chris's corridor!"

"Kinomiya!" Brooklyn said sharply. A chocolate-eyed boy emerged from the crowd around his table.

"Yes?"

"You were the one who set it up, weren't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"And why didn't it work?"

"Um…" Tyson Kinomiya scratched his head. "I dunno, I might not have put enough-"

"Shut up." Brooklyn snarled, turning back to the laptop. "Dismissed."

"But Brooklyn, sir, I don't think we should…I mean, she's only a girl…"

"What?" the ginger-haired boy turned around again, staring in enraged disbelief at the boy. This impudent boy was daring to contradict him! _A lesson needs to be taught. _He thought with grim satisfaction ashe raised his clenched fist. Over on the next table, Kai sighed, shaking his head. When would Tyson learn to keep his mouth shut? Looks like he would have to rescue him…again…

Standing up, Kai pushed his way through the crowd…but someone beat him to it.

"That's not very nice, Brooklyn." Chris said evenly, catching Brooklyn's wrist again. "I think you owe him an apology."

"For what?" the boy spat, trying unsuccessfully to disengage his hand from the girl's grip.

"For trying to stop him from doing something decent."

"No."

Chris twisted his arm around slowly.

"_Apologise."_

Brooklyn gritted his teeth, pain coiling up his forearm.

"Alright, alright!" he bellowed. "I'm _sorry!"_

"Good." Her crimson eyes hardened. "And now, I think you owe _me_ an apology. And you know perfectly well why." Brooklyn turned his head, gazing furiously at Chris through sky-blue eyes.

"_Never._" He spat. The girl's patience snapped. Swiftly, she caught his other arm and twisted that too, so Brooklyn had nowhere to turn to relieve his pain just a bit. He bit back a cry of pain as a burning sensation seared up his arms. The crowd was utterly silent.

"I'm not saying it again." She said.

"…_Sorry!"_ Brooklyn choked out, eyes watering. And only then did Chris let go. Brooklyn nursed his stinging wrists and watched the midnight haired girl through hate-filled eyes as she turned and walked away.

"Bitch." He snarled, and dodged forwards, sweeping out a foot and knocking the girl off her feet. Her head smashed into the ground, and she let out a gasp, blinking back the tears. Brooklyn, a small smile on his face, placed his foot on her chest, keeping her down. Try as she might, she couldn't get up; Brooklyn had the advantage. Her head was throbbing, and she had landed awkwardly on her wrist, which was now riddled with pain.

"Like I said," the ginger-haired teen laughed. "Watch where you step, Mikasuke." He pressed down harder, and Chris let out the tiniest of whimpers, the breath slowly being crushed out of her lungs.

At the back of the crowd, Kai felt fury slowly bubbling up inside him. To hit a boy was one thing, but to hit a _girl_ when her back was turned! He pushed his way to the front.

"That's enough, Kingston." He said sharply.

"Mind your own damn business." Brooklyn retorted, with the air of a predator jealously guarding his prey. Chris's head turned, and she shot Kai a look that clearly said, _Back off. I can manage it._ Kai felt the ferocity of her thoughts even from where he was standing, and so forced himself to keep quiet.

"Yeah, Brooklyn." The bluenette laughed a little weakly. "And I said the same to you." She yanked her leg upwards, her knee slamming into the back of his, causing him to momentarily crumple. Ignoring the pain bursting in her wrist and head, Chris took advantage of the now weakened, unstable pressure on her chest and pushed herself up, throwing Brooklyn off balance. The crowd wavered behind him, backing away, no one bothering to catch him as he stumbled.

Finally, he managed to right himself, but Chris was already prepared. In one fluid movement, she brought her arm back, clenched her fingers, and drove it full into the side of his face with all the strength she had left. He went sprawling.

"Bastard." She snarled. Feeling shaken and hurt, Chris strode away through the hastily cleared path in the crowd, feeling the tears beginning to prick at her eyelids. Her crimson eyes were still alight with fury, swamped with tears though they were. So. Brooklyn was going out of his way to try and get her out of this year's tournament?

"You just try, Kingston." she muttered grimly to herself, nursing her swollen wrist."Try, and see what happens."

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**I SWEAR I'm not writing any more until I get more reviews! Come on people! I don't care, you can say how bad it is…well, as long as you say _why_. **


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